Coupling for railway cars



Apr. 3, 1923, 1,450,248

M. K. CARR COUPLING FOR RAILWAY CARS Filed June 15,"1921 1 1710.74 12: aE l -wfll Maw; I

mbmrs Patented Apr. 3, 1923.

UNITED}. STATES MELVIN K. CARR, OF BREMERTON, WASHINGTON.

GOUPLING'F OR RAILWAY CARS.

Application filcd June 16, 1921-. Serial No. 477,988.

To all whom it may concern:

' Be it known that'I, MELVIN K. CARR, a. citizen of the United States,and a resident of Bremerton, in the county of Kitsap and State ofWashington, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inCouplings for Railway Cars, ofwhich the following is a specification,

The present invention relates to an improvement in couplings for railwaycars or the like and has for its object to provide a device of'thischaracter which is of simple and durable construction, reliable in operation, and easy and inexpensive to manufac- 16 ture', which is adapted toeffect the automatic' and efficient coupling of the railway car or othervehicles to be coupled and which may be released Without necessity ofthe operator going between the cars 'or vehicles.

Other objects and advantages of the invention reside in certain novelfeatures of construction, combination and arrangement of parts whichwill be hereinafter more fully described and particularly pointed 2 outin the appended claims, reference being had to the accompanying drawingsforming part of this specification, and in which:

Figure 1 is a view in side elevation of the coupling-members immediatelyprior to the coupling action, parts being shown in sec-- tion for thesake of illustration;

Figure 2 is a view in vertical longitudinal section, showing the partscoupled, parts being shown in elevation for the sake of illustration;

Figure 3 is similar view in horizontal section;

Figure 4 is a detail perspective view of one of the swinging couplingbars and associated elements.

Referring to the drawings wherein for the sake of illustration is shownthe preferred embodiment of the invention, the character C designatesthe coupling members which are carried by the cars in the usual mannerand which are oppositely arranged and of identical construction so thata description of one will serve for both.

Each coupling member includes a housing 10 preferably of frusto-conicalform and carried at the lower end of the draw bar in the usual manner.The housing is provided with a removable plate 11 normally secured inposition by fastening means 12 or the like. In each housing there isprovided. a chamber-13 having vertical side walls 14 constitutingguides' A vertically swinging. coupling bar 15 is operatively arrangedin the housing and has a flat vertical face 15 engaged with. the

guide face 14: of the housing to constrain the coupling bar to itsproper mot-ion. At. its

inner end the coupling bar is pro-vided' with an enlarged bearing 16having its lateral face flat as indicated at 16 and also engaged withthe guide walls 14 of the chamber to supplement the action of theface 15and wall 1 1 inconstraining the swinging bar to provide motion'.,Trunnions 17 undercut, as at 17 are carried by the bea-ri-ng lfiand arej our-naled cooperable with the curved face 19 of the bill 19 of thehookof the complementary coupling member. At the upper end of the lock lugan inclined shoulder 23 is provided and is adapted to be received in theseat 20 of the latch bar of the complementary member when the couplingmembers are associated in coupled relation, as clearly shown in Figure2.'

Operating means is provided and preferably comprises a control lever 25rotatably mounted upon the car and having a crank arm 26 connected by achain-or other flexible element 27 with a link 28 which in turn ispivotally connected to the latch bar of the underlying coupling member,as clearly shown inFigure 2.

In the coupling operation each projecting end of each coupling bar ofeach coupling member enters the housing of the other coupling member andthe curved faces 19 of the bills of the hooks thereof'ride up the camsurfaces 22 of the lock lugs 21. This carries the bills of the hooksover the lock lugs so that they then are disposed slightly behind andvare adapted to engage the rear faces of the lock lugs and so that theinclined shoulders then are received in the seats 20. There is thusprovided an efficient, effective and secure coupling.

In the coupling operation, either one of the control levers 25 isgrasped and rotated to swing the crank arm upwardly and thus draw thelink 28 upwardly. The link 28 carries the vertically swinging couplingbar 15 to which it is connected upwardly about its trunnions. This alsolifts the other coupling bar and as the coupling bars thus swing, thebills of the hooks are disengaged from the lock lugs and the shouldersof the lock lugs slide out of the seats of the coupling bars and thusdisengagement is effected.

I claim:

1. In a coupling of the character described, a pair of coupling members,each including a housing having a chamber therein provided withvertically side walls constituting guides, a coupling bar having a flatlateral face engaging the adjacent side walls of the chamber, trunnionscarried by the bar and journaled in the housing for constraining thecoupling bar to vertical swinging movement, a hook carried at the outerend of the coupling bar and having a bill provided with a curved outerface, said coupling bar having a seat formed therein adj accnt saidhook, a lock lug carried by the coupling bar and having a cam adapted tocoact with the curved bill of the hook of the complementary couplingmember and an inclined shoulder at its upper end adapted to be receivedin the seat of the coupling bar of the complementary coupling member,and operating mechanism for releasing said coupling members including acontrol lever having a crank arm, a link pivotally connected at one endto the coupling bar and a chain connecting said link and said crank arm.

2. In a coupling of the character described, a housing having a chamber,a swinging coupling bar pivoted to said housing within the chamber and,brojecting therefrom, a hook carried by the outer end of the couplingand having a bill provided with a curved face, said coupling bar havinga seat formed therein adj acent said hook, a lock lug carried by thecoupling bar having a cam face and an inclined shoulder at the upper endthereof, and operating means for releasing said coupling.

3. In a coupling of the character described, a housing having a chamber,a swinging coupling bar pivoted to said housing within the chamber andprojecting therefrom, a hook carried by the outer end of the couplingand having a bill provided with a curved face, said coupling bar havinga seat formed therein adjacent said hook, and a lock lug carried by thecoupling bar having a cam face and an inclined shoulder at the upper endthereof.

MELVIN K. CARE.

